VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Between the second and third periods Sunday night at Rogers Place in Edmonton, the Ducks received a shock to the system within the visitors’ dressing room.

It could be the realization that they were trailing the Oilers by two goals in a game they needed to have. It could have been Coach Randy Carlyle using some choice words in front a group that played an uninspired first 40 minutes on a trip that carried a similar look.

It was both, really. The specifics may never be revealed, but the Ducks came out for the third period and finally showed the desperation Carlyle and his regiment often talks about. Actions backed up the talk, and they came back from two deficits to pull out a critical 5-4 overtime win on Hampus Lindholm’s goal.

Until their 22-shot blitz in the third that produced three goals, the Ducks weren’t looking like a team playing with its playoff life at stake – not on Sunday, or the trip’s first two games.

“I think a lot of it was really just focusing on yourself,” defenseman Cam Fowler said Monday. “I don’t think a whole lot needed to be said. Obviously we knew the situation that we were in. I think really we were just frustrated altogether with the kind of hockey that we’ve been playing.

“Randy came in and lit a fire under our butts, which he needed to do. Besides that, there really wasn’t much said. We needed to get our act together. That’s really all it came down to. We needed to prove to ourselves that we had something to play for here and we had to go out and fight for one another and play for one another.”

The paint was still on the walls in the dressing room afterward. Nothing appeared to be thrown about. Talking within the room only goes so far, Fowler contends. But an air-it-out session can work when the time is right.

“It all depends on the situation obviously,” Fowler said. “I think there are times where a captain or a veteran guy needs to stand up and say something. And that can happen a handful of times during a season. There are quite a few times too when you have a bad period, you’re kind of just sleepwalking through a game and the coach needs to come light a fire under you.

“Those are all just kind of normal things that happen through the course of a season. When you have expectations to win and compete every night, you have to have that accountability for one another that you’re going to bring it every night. And when it’s not there, you need to know that people expect it.”

Now comes the part where the Ducks must show whether they’ve learned something. They will play Vancouver, a team they’ve routinely handled in recent years, Tuesday night. But, as Fowler noted, they’ve seen the Canucks go into Dallas and beat a team outside the playoff picture that had to have points.

Will they look like the team that was outplayed for varying levels over the first eight full periods of their trip or a dominating one when they finally stirred themselves up for a game-changing 20 minutes?

“I really hope that we are where we need to be in terms of having that mental mindset that we need to have,” Fowler said. “These times can be tough when you’re playing on the road against teams that don’t have a whole lot to lose. They can end up being very sneaky and playing with a lot of confidence.

“You have to go in with the right mindset. We definitely should know where we are and we know that we need these points.”

PRIZED PROSPECT SIGNED

Troy Terry is signed, sealed and soon to be delivered.

The Ducks got an NCAA champion and one of collegiate hockey’s most polished forwards under contract as they signed Terry to a three-year entry level deal. Terry’s time with the club will count as the first year, which will make him a restricted free agent in the summer of 2020.

A fifth-round draft pick of the Ducks in 2015, Terry went the college route and starred at the University of Denver for three seasons. His junior year ended Sunday night when Denver lost to Ohio State in the Midwest Regional final in its bid to repeat as national champions.

Once Terry’s season culminated, the Ducks went about finalizing a deal with his representatives and the Denver native is expected to join the team in Vancouver. As a junior in 2017-18, Terry had 14 goals and a team-high 34 assists in 39 games.

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